Wait, What About My Divisive Symbols!

From Todays WaPoo, Defense secretary effectively bans Confederate flags from military bases while rejecting ‘divisive symbols’

Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper effectively banned displays of the Confederate battle flag on U.S. military installations, saying in a memo released Friday that the American flag is the “principal flag we are authorized and encouraged to display.”


The memo did not explicitly mention Confederate banners but stated that the “flags we fly must accord with the military imperatives of good order and discipline, treating all our people with dignity and respect, and rejecting divisive symbols.”

Esper chose not to specify which flags were prohibited to ensure that “the department-wide policy would be apolitical and withstand potential free speech political challenges” and that the services were “free to act on other flags,” a defense official said.

LGBTQ Flag Bikini

You'll never guess who objected, and you had to wait 10 more paragraphs to find out:

One organization championing LGBTQ rights, the Modern Military Association of America, sounded the alarm about the new policy.

“The Pentagon must immediately reconsider and take swift and appropriate action to ensure the Pride flag and LGBTQ Pride Month observances are not threatened,” Jennifer Dane, the group’s interim executive director, said in a statement. “If Secretary Esper refuses to reconsider, we will call on Members of Congress to take action.”

In other words, what about our rights to fly our divisive symbols!



Now, I'm not that much of a flag guy. We don't commonly fly one at home. I love my country and all, but I don't feel I need to wear in on my sleeve (or my ass). But I respect everyone else's right to do so.

I grown and raised in California, where the Civil War barely touched (although gold from the gold fields helped finance the North), and the subject was not stressed in the schools. I'm not upset by people who use the Confederate Battle Flag to express their solidarity with the south; it's a harmless display of regional pride. It has not escaped my attention that the former rebel states of the south tend to be more overtly patriotic than the victorious states of the north, and per capita, provide more men for the US armed forces.


I don't agree with the new story that the confederates were "traitors" to the Union. Until the Civil War, the Unions was a union of sovereign states; without modern transportation, people had more loyalty to their states than to the Union as a whole. The Civil War settled that issue, at least until CHAZ

I find it far more obnoxious to wear Che Guevara on your shirt; the man was a monster almost equivalent to a Hitler shirt, but with a smaller death count, but for the most part the people who do that are engaging in a juvenile act of rebellion.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the weekly Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup and linkfest. The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Kate Upton To The Edge Of Madness up and running.

So You Want to Be Offended?

Here, Let Me Give You Something To Whine About

Apropos of Stacy’s post on the attempt to shove the Confederate flag down the memory hole, Michael Z. Williamson and his friends have some suggestions for a replacement flag guaranteed to offend just about everybody, but especially the members of the pro-slavery, pro-segregation Democratic party.

Also, some clever fellow has introduced a petition to strip former Senator and Klansman Robert Byrd’s name from everything.

An excellent plan, and Randy Barnett at Instapundit is getting a list of other Democratic Demigods who could be similarly targeted, including Woodrow Wilson. Sure, I'll let you ban the Confederate flag, if you give me JFK, RFK, and Woodrow as race villains in the history books.

If you want to actually buy a Confederate flag, if for no better reason than Amazon, Wal-Mart, Mitt Romney and other bien pensants think you shouldn’t have one, Cooter (Ben Jones) can fix you up. Or you can examine the fine selection at the Ruffin Flag Company of Georgia.

On the other hand, Comrade, if you prefer Officially Approved Symbols, Amazon can fix you up with merchandise commemorating that great (National) Socialist regime led by Chancellor Hitler. Meanwhile, Walmart can fix you up with iconography of that racist murderer revolutionary hero Che Guevara!

Mychal Massie has an opinion on the subject, and so does Zo Rachel. Also also, Allen West has some surprising news regarding the slain Charleston pastor’s opinion of the flag.

I myself have no use for the Confederate Flag. I was raised in California, and our history lessons were long on Mexican/Californian history and weak on the Civil War, which didn't impact California all that much.

But Civil War re-enacting is a big industry here in the southern border region Southern MD would likely have gone to the South if it weren't for the proximity to Washington DC, and the Potomac River.

If all the re-enactors on the southern side are force the hand make their own flags and regalia, they'll be too busy to line up and mock fight.